What’s at Stake:  A Weekly Look at Iowa football from both sides of the scoreboard.

If Iowa loses at Michigan State: My radio co-host Steve Deace thinks that the Hawks are playing with house money in this game.  What he means by that is the Hawks can afford to have this loss.

That may be true, as Iowa will have four games left after the game against Sparty, with three of them at home and Iowa will be favored to win each of those games.  Their road game is at Ohio State, and the Buckeyes are hardly tearing things up right now.

I know that I would sure feel a lot more comfortable if Iowa were able to move to 4-0 on the road this year and beat Michigan State.  Vegas handicapper Lee Sterling thinks that is what’s going to happen, and I do too.

However, I do agree that a loss in East Lansing does not mean the Rose Bowl is lost, yet Michigan State would be in a decent position with the only hammer on the Hawks due to the head to head win.  But if the Hawks won their last four, I don’t know that the Spartans have the firepower to close out their season without a loss, which includes a home game against Penn State to end the year.

If Iowa wins at Michigan State:   It’s tough to really ‘verbalize’ this because we are nearing uncharted waters; if Iowa loses, they are out of the national championship picture.  Sure, other schools can say this on a semi-regular basis, but for Iowa, you really haven’t been able to say that with a straight face for about 24 years, since the last time they were 7-0.

That was 1985, when they were ranked #1 in the nation.  They played at Ohio State the week after knocking off #2 Michigan, and the contest took place in a driving rainstorm, much like what is expected in East Lansing on Saturday night.  That team never made it  to 8-0.

This Iowa team is the first team to have a chance to get to 8-0 in nearly a quarter century.  But it goes beyond that.  This is just the second team IN IOWA FOOTBALL HISTORY that has a chance to move to 8-0 in the same season.  The teams from the 1950’s didn’t start 7-0, and the teams from the early 1920’s only played seven game seasons.

Chew on that for a second…What’s at stake Saturday night?  The greatest start to an Iowa football season in school history.

I know it’s easy to say, ‘The 2009 Hawkeyes could be the first team to start 8-0 in Iowa history.’  But when you really think about that and let it roll around in your head, my goodness!  The gravity!

No matter if you are 38 years old like I am, or 88 years old like Jim Zabel, this is only the second opportunity you have seen for an Iowa team to start 8-0.

If Iowa wins, they have one foot in Pasadena, by my estimation.  Sure, they have to take care of business at home against Indiana, Northwestern and Minnesota, but I think they will.  There is 11 wins.

A win in East Lansing might mean the only thing that stands between Iowa and a perfect 12-0 season is a trip to Columbus to take on a reeling Ohio State team whose offensive woes will not be rectified by November 14th; their issues are likely only going to be cured after an out of season change in offensive philosophy to match their personnel set.

Iowa has won just twice at Ohio State in my lifetime, and just twice dating back to the 1959 season, which was 50 years ago.  However, this would be the year to do it.

If Iowa wins against Michigan State, it would likely jump ahead of Cincinnati in the BCS poll, and perhaps jump ahead of Boise State and move into 4th place.

So what’s at stake against Michigan State?  Possibly the most memorable football season in Iowa football history, that’s all.

I’m just glad the Iowa players are on the road and can’t hear any of this stuff; hopefully the coaching staff blocked their access to the Internet, too.

Corrections: Bretu pointed out that Iowa played Northwestern the week after it beat Michigan in 1985 and won that game, to go 7-0, and then lost at Ohio State. Also, the 1900 team had a shot to go 8-0, but tied its last game